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Perspective ARTICLE

Hassin recently proposed the “Yes It Can” (YIC) principle to describe the division of labor between conscious and unconscious processes in human cognition. According to this principle, unconscious processes can carry out every fundamental high-level cognitive function that conscious processes can perform. In our commentary, we argue that the author presents an overly idealized review of the literature in support of the YIC principle. Furthermore, we point out that the dissimilar trends observed in social and cognitive psychology, with respect to published evidence of strong unconscious effects, can better be explained by the way how awareness is defined and measured in both research fields. Finally, we show that the experimental paradigm chosen by Hassin to rule out remaining objections against the YIC principle is unsuited to verify the new default notion that all high-level cognitive functions can unfold unconsciously.

In
Perspectives on Psychological Science
, Hassin has recently proposed a novel principle, the “Yes It Can” (YIC) principle, to describe the division of labor between conscious and unconscious processes in human cognition (
Hassin, 2013
). In brief, the YIC principle states that “unconscious processes can carry out every fundamental high-level [cognitive] function that conscious processes can perform” (p. 195). According to Hassin, two observations lend
a priori
plausibility to the YIC principle. First, conscious processing has been shown to be severely capacity-limited (
Baddeley, 2007
). Second, some theories suggest that conscious awareness as we experience it today might be a relatively recent evolutionary development (
Angara Classic South Sea Cultured Pearl Halo VBale Pendant ZsICwvJ
). Hassin concludes that, therefore, “fundamental cognitive functions are likely to occur outside of conscious awareness” (p. 195).

The author then reviews a wide and diverse range of supporting evidence from cognitive and social psychology, as well as the cognitive neurosciences. The selected studies unanimously show that high-level cognitive functions that were previously thought of as requiring consciousness can indeed occur non-consciously, i.e., without awareness of the relevant stimuli or without awareness of the influence of the relevant stimuli, respectively. In particular, he presents empirical data from four different subsets of cognitive functions, namely cognitive control (e.g., conflict adaptation), goal pursuit (e.g., goal priming), information broadcasting (e.g., semantic priming), and reasoning (e.g., decision making).

Instagram's growth story has been phenomenal, and it has the potential to take away the social media crown from Facebook itself

Instagram, which started its journey as a mere image sharing platform, is now even challenging its parent Facebook in the social media game.

A report that came out recently states that if Instagram were a standalone app, it would be
valued over $100 billion
.
While this speaks volumes about Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s vision with regards to Instagram early on — it was bought by Facebook for $1 bn in 2012 — it should also ring some alarm bells at Menlo Park. This is because, Instagram is not just driving away users from rival social media platforms such as Snapchat, Twitter, YouTube, but according to a Pew Research Study,
Instagram and YouTube are the most popular apps
followed by Snapchat, among teens in the US teens. Also, users are spending
on an average the same amount of time on Instagram
, as they do on Facebook. A large portion of this population is the same that was once hooked on to Facebook.

Instagram and YouTube are the most popular apps
on an average the same amount of time on Instagram

When Facebook was on this spree of copying most of Snapchat’s features, it replicated the ‘Stories’ feature across all its four major products: WhatsApp, Facebook, Messenger and Instagram. But the app which gave
the most returns was Instagram
, which even surpassed the engagement numbers as compared to Snapchat.

the most returns was Instagram

IGTV launch at an event in San Francisco. Image: Instagram Press

User acquisition rates on Instagram are unparalleled, not just within the Facebook ecosystem, but across the social media industry. Instagram
launched Instagram Stories
a little less than 2 years ago. Back then, the Instagram user base was around 500 million users. In two years since,Instagram has managed to garner another 500 million users. None of its contemporaries have managed to acquire half a billion users within two years.

It’s no wonder then that Facebook is going aggressive Instagram, and is now pitching it against Google’s YouTube as well, with the
launch of the IGTV app
. With online video viewing habits undergoing a sea change, there hasn’t really been a proper rival to YouTube which has been around since 2006. Facebook’s multiple attempts at doing video, such as Facebook Live and the more recent Watch, hasn’t really been able to cause any dent in YouTube’s viewership numbers or the user-loyalty on that platform.

just as grandma's cookie jar should always be full of good things, this blog will be full of good ideas, information, activities and reviews of things to help grandma . . . and grandpa, mom and dad too . . . pass on a heritage of faith to the children in their lives!

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Don't you just love the imagination of three year olds?!!! My grandson, Josiah, is three years old and he certainly has an imagination! Lately, one of his favorite things is for him to pretend to be a "scary" beast! Recently when
Josiah was at our house, he and poppa were making "scary" sounds (oooooohhhh) into a tin bucket (the echo made the ooooohhhh's much more scary!) Josiah ran into the kitchen where I was and said, I'm making scary sounds, which was followed by ooooooohhhhh into the bucket! I said, "Oh dear!!! Whatever should I do?" Josiah said, "You need to be saved from the scary sounds!" then he ran into the living room and said, "Poppa, you need to save grandma from the scary sounds!" Poppa said, "You could save grandma from the scary sounds", to which Josiah replied, "I can't save grandma from the scary sounds . . . . I'm making the scary sounds!!!" :^)
The next time Josiah was over here, h
e ran up to me and said, "I'm a seriously scary beast!" and then he "roared" and said, "oooohhhh!" Well . . . he may not be seriously scary, but he most certainly is seriously cute, seriously funny, seriously adorable . . . well, you get the idea! Don't you just love three year olds!!!